Penn's Woods

We have been SO busy, that it's been a while since I've got back to my posting (and not keeping my seat on a trotting horse!) I'm going to do Pennsylvania and Washington separately was we saw a lot in both places. The Pennsylvania (the Woods of Penn) one will be shorter. Here goes ....

MILEAGE:

Buster: Andover, New Jersey to Lenhartsville, Pennsylvania (near Allentown) to College Park, Maryland, outside Washington D.C.: 348 miles

Bella: 600

Mileage from October 4 through October 15th: 948

TOTAL for League's Excellent Adventure: 10,485 (at John Krehbiel's suggestion we are drinking champagne to celebrate our first 10,000 miles!)

STATE COUNT: 16 Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey, Delaware

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 4

After a leisurely morning, we set out for the relatively short drive to Pennsylvania. We set Allentown as a central location as we hoped to connect with my good friend, Judy Rittenhouse who lives there. Judy and I were roommates in high school at Rio Lindo Academy in Healdsburg, California, and stayed in touch over the years, though we had lost touch in most recent years. She was an invaluable friend to me after my divorce, sharing her wonderful family with me on a number of great trips and adventures. She has been a writer and editor, and now is training tutors at a literacy center in Easton, PA after having done a stint through the State Department in Bosnia, teaching English as a second language. It was wonderful to see her again, and she gave us a wonderful dinner at her home of butternut squash soup, and a moroccon chicken and rice dish with poached pears for dessert. Tres elegante! We had the chance to catch up about her children, and we also connected later in the week when Liz and I visited her in Easton, had lunch, and went to the Crayola factory. She DID get away without a picture for my electronic scrapbook, but we hooked up with her daughter Chloe in DC (see later post), and there IS a strong resemblance which you can see in our picture with Chloe. It was wonderful to reconnect with Judy.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 5th, was our day to visit the City of Brotherly Love .... Philadelphia. After New York, it was notable to us to get back to normal access to a city: we drove right downtown and parked a block from Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell. Being in Philadelphia once again drove home the impression we have about what a great job the educational arm of the National Park Service has done at helping to make visits to our national historic sites as enjoyable and educational as possible. We had a particularly effective guide for our tour of Independence Hall. He reinforced for us the chronology of the 1st and 2nd Continental Congresses, and the Constitutional Convention. Between 1776 and 1787 the United States was governed by the Articles of Confederation, but that after the colonies lost their "focus", as our guide Stewart Little (!) said, it was difficult for them to agree to do anything together. When they didn't have an army to fund, and a revolutionary war to support, they wanted to keep all their resources at home within their own states. Being in the room where the framers of the Constitution debated how to form a government that would bind the states together, but still allow of alot of independent thinking and action for each state was tremendous.

Stewart Little reminded us of the imposing stature of George Washington, being 6 feet 2 inches .... VERY tall for the day, and how he quietly won the confidence of the group leading to his election as the first president. We also learned how he had no children (only two stepchildren ... Martha (Custis) had been married before and widowed), and so he was also an appealing choice as he had no direct heirs that might follow in a hereditary "monarchy." We were really surprised when we asked Liz when we visited Mt. Vernon later why George Washington might have been a good choice for president, and she pulled out this fact for her answer. We didn't think she was paying that much attention, but since she is supposed to be on an extended "field trip" we were very pleased.

Here is Liz in front of Independence Hall, the room where both the Declaration of Independence and Constitution of the United States were signed (on the right) and Liz in front of the Liberty Bell!

It was a bit of a drive back to Allentown, but we had a warmish evening, and so we acceded to Liz' wishes to make a fire. She has acquired a bit of a genetic "firebug" tendency. Here she is demonstrating a smoking branch, which Gary is watching Harry Potter on our outside DVD. It IS fun!

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 6th

Because we wanted to be around for my Wednesday morning confab with the Women's HealthSource (Mayo women's newsletter) colleagues, we went off to Gettysburg the next day. It was a couple hour drive, but through beautiful Pennsylvania Dutch rolling hill country. We arrived at the Visitor Center before noon, and began out visit, again, at a beautiful Visitor Center with a great big screen movie that perfectly set the stage for us to learn about those three days in July, 1863. After that, we had the privilege to see the beautifully restored massive painting now displayed as a Cyclorama. It is a 377 foot paining by Paul Philippoteaux of Pickett's Charge, completed in 1884. One stands in the center of a large room and has various parts of the painting lighted as the course of the battle is described. At the bottom of the painting, the countryside transitions from being seen in the painting to real ground and rocks which are formed up to the base of the viewing platform. It is really very impressive.

We elected to purchase an audio tour by TravelBrains (!) which we could play in our car as we toured the Battlefield. It was awesome. The historian, Wayne Motts, a Licensed Battlefield Guide, was very conversational and gave us wonderful background as we made our way from the western side of the battlefield and Seminary Ridge around Little Round Top to the Wheatfield, The Peach Orchard and up to Cemetery Hill. It probably took us 4 hours to slowly make our way among the beautiful memorials, hilly farmland and listen to what happened on July 1, 2 and 3, 1863. (see intro pic at top of post)

General Lee, leading the confederate army, was fresh off a resounding victory over the Union forces at Fredericksburg, Virginia. He thought somewhere in Pennsylvania he could establish a presence in the north and gain substantial position. He amassed thousands (I'm thinking most of the Army of Northern Virginia, 75,000 strong was at Gettysburg; the Army of the Potomac had a total of 93,000 troops) of troops and aligned them west of town. The Union general, defeated at Fredericksburg, had been replaced by General George Meade just 2 or 3 days before the battle of Gettysburg commenced. Meade devised a brilliant position called the fish hook where his lines would extend down the neck of the fish hook, but at the top, north of town, the line would loop around in the "U" of the fish hook so that retreats and advances could be accomplished without traveling such a long distance.

Many of the Southern troops were exhausted by the long march up from Virginia, and went into battle with no rest. They fought valiantly, and were advancing from south of town to a little elevation called Little Round Top which was undefended by the Union forces. However, General Meade's chief engineer, Brig Gen Gouverneur K. Warren (a former math teacher at West Point) spotted the Alabama troops and alerted Union troops to defend just in time. (His statue is below.)

Intense fighting ensued at the base of Little Round Top, particularly in a very rocky area called Devil's Den (seen by parked cars in left pic, and then close up)

and then for a number of very intense hours in the Wheatfield. Unbelievable casualties resulted, many units losing more than half their men. Lee then orchestrated the massive Pickett's Charge by 12,000 men in the open fields between Seminary and Cemetery Ridges, but the Union defended with Meade's artillery and fish hook line. Lee lost 5000 men in one hour. It is said Lee rode among them apologizing, saying the defeat was his fault. Overall, 51,000 men were killed, wounded or missing on both sides during the three days in Gettysburg.

There were so many dead, that the town of Gettysburg (2,000 population I believe) was overwhelmed with care of the dead and wounded. Public interest demanded a decent burial and the Soldier's National Cemetery was established. In November, 1863, some 5 months after the battle, President Lincoln traveled to Gettysburg to take part in the dedication ceremonies for the National Cemetery and, of course, uttered those unforgettable and inspiring words.

Gary's brothers have discovered that as many at 75 League ancestors fought in the Civil War, and over 50 of them fought for the Confederacy. While Gary has no sympathy for the Southern argument .... maintaining slavery as a states' right .... he has incredible sadness and sympathy for those many, possibly some kin, who lost their lives at Gettysburg. He also noted that we had to go to war 85 years after the revolution to defend the ideal that "all men are created equal," and abolish slavery. He says, "Thank goodness we didn't need another war to recognize women as full members of society."

It was an educational and emotional day .... I'm sure Gary and I were more impacted than Elizabeth was, but she was very interested in seeing the monument to the Minnesota soldiers that fought at Gettysburg. The Minnesota contingent, in fact, were the first members of the federal army as 1000 had been volunteered by the Minnesota governor when he was visiting the Secretary of War in Washington in 1861. Two hundred and sixty-two of these brave soldiers were fighting in Gettysburg; 82% of them were lost. They were right at the front and are credited with turning the tide against the assault of confederate General Longstreet south of town. We were really proud, especially Liz, to see the Minnesota monument.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 7

We did our work on Wednesday morning, Gary searched out and found a place for Buster to be serviced, and have his oil changed, and Liz and I met our friend Judy in Easton. After our good lunch and our Crayola visit, we found our way along the back roads and rendezvoused with Gary and Buster in Wilmington, Delaware (acquiring another state to our log book) and camped without an electrical plug in at Lunds Pond State Park. It was very nippy that night and even with our propane heater, the temperature got down to 58 degrees in Buster. So we were happy on Thursday to make our way to one of the biggest and well-equipped motorhome parks in the country: Cherry Hill Park in College Park, Maryland, which would be our home for the next week as we explored our nation's capital. (... Gary continues to hum the song, "Mary Hill was such a thrill after dark .... in Cherry Hill Park!")

We'll say "bye" for now .... there's a lot to come in the next week!

Julie, Gary and Liz